Neverland
by darkangel9314
Summary: When Elena's daughter is kidnapped, she is forced to work with the man who left her to get their daughter back, but will old feelings die hard and who was behind there daughters kidnapping in the first place?
1. Chapter 1

Neverland

Chapter 1

Elena Gilbert tossed back and forth in her bed as she tried to wake up from her nightmare. A loud piercing cry shocked her out of her nightmare as she groaned grabbing the baby monitor and making her way to her daughter Clarissa's room.

Sometimes it was hard to be a teenager with a kid, but she loved Clarissa more than anything in this world. Even if she had been an accident. Elena could still remember the day she was conceived and the day she told Clarissa's father that he was going to be a dad. It hadn't gone well.

Elena sighed as she emptied out her lunch for the tenth time that week. Soemtimes morning sickness could be a bitch. She couldn't even tell if it was because of the baby or because today was the day she would have to tell Damon that she was pregnant. She just helped that he would take it well.

She walked across the crowded cafeteria spotting Damon for the first time that day. She took in a deep breath and approached his table.

"Damon. We need to talk." Elena said as Damon turned to look at her.

"Sure."

"Can I talk to you in private?"

He shrugged as they made their way to a private part of the quad. She didn't know how she could let this happen. She didn't think anything of it when the condom broke on them, but now she had to suffer the consequences of her actions.

"What's wrong Elena?"

"I'm pregnant Damon."

"What? How?"

"The condom broke remember. I'm so sorry Damon. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I can't-I can't listen to this right now. I'm sorry Elena."

Elena was baffled as he left.

Now Damon was more active in his daughters life, but she still had to pull his chain just to get him to spend some time with Clarissa. She knew he was busy with college and other things, but his daughter still needed him. She was just glad that it was his week this week. She loved her daughter more than anything in this world, but being a mother was exhausting.

She smiled as she sat Clarissa back in her crib and turned off the light. She just hoped that whatever happened between her and Damon that he would always be in Clarissa's life.


	2. Chapter 2

Neverland

Chapter 2

Elena smiled as Clarissa laughed. She always loved it when her mother took the time to play with her. They were in the park today waiting on a picnic blanket since Damon had arranged to have family bonding time in the park that day. She was all for it if it meant that they could at least spend a little time as a family together.

"May I join you two?" Damon asked sitting down.

"I don't see why not."

Damon smiled and Clarissa reached out for her dad. Elena sighed and gave Clarissa to Damon. He smiled and tossed her in the air a couple of time which made her laugh. She was such a daddy's girl. Her mother didn't blame her though. She loved Damon too. Elena smiled and stroked Clarissa's cheeks with her fingers. She loved her little girl so much and she would do anything for her. Even if it meant putting up with Damon for a little while.

"How has she been?" he said.

"The doctors say she's doing good and she's excelling for her age. It looks we have a smart baby on our hands right here."

The baby giggled grabbing onto Elena's finger.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I don't want to fight."

"We're not fighting."

Elena shrugged as she pulled out the food and a can of baby food.

"I have to feed her." she said holding up the jar.

Damon nodded and gave Clarissa back to Elena. She was fussy at first until Elena gave her the food then she quickly settled down. The one thing this girl loved more than her parents attention was food. Elena giggled and wiped the baby food off her chin. She was so adorable.

Damon grabbed a strawberry and placed it by Elena's mouth. She looked at it and then him before taking a bite out of it.

"Thanks." she said as Clarissa's eyes drooped.

They had to get her to the daycare soon or else she could never get to work on time. Elena sighed as she sat up and kissed Clarissa on the cheek.

"i have to go."

Damon nodded as Elena looked at her daughter and Damon one last time.

"I'll pick her up from the daycare so you don't have to later." she said running her fingers through her hair.

"I thought it was my week with her."

"It';s weekends only Damon. That's what we agreed on."

"Okay. Thank you for letting me take her to daycare at least."

Elena nodded as Damon handed her Clarrissa. She gave her a kiss and smiled as the baby laughed.

"I'll see you later my precious baby girl."

Damon smiled as Elena handed her back to him. Elena wished that she knew during that moment that this would be the last happy moment she had for a while. She wished she had some kind of warning before her life fell apart.


	3. Chapter 3

Neverland

Chapter 3

If Elena hated anything more it was leaving her daughter behind in Damon's care. It wasn't that he was a bad father by any means, it was just that he barely wanted to be in her life when she was born and now he was trying to act like father of the year.

Elena sighed as she finished putting in Clarissa's ponytail and getting her dressed. Damon would be there any moment and than she would have to go to work for the day. She hated leaving her baby, but there was clothes to buy and mouths to feed. She needed this job for her and her daughter and the rest would fall into place later.

"Alright baby you're all set to go to daycare."

Clarissa smiled as she gave Elena a hug. She lived for moments like this.

The doorbell rang as Clarissa's smile lit up.

"Daddy!" she said racing to the door.

Elena sighed as she went to go meet Damon with Clarissa's bag. When she got there Damon and Clarissa were hugging and she sighed. She knew that Damon loved their little girl more than anything, but she just didn't trust him enough yet. Overnights and visitation rights were a thing that Damon would have to earn, she was amazed that she was even letting him take her to daycare today.

Elena sighed again and handed over Clarissa's bag to Damon and smiled at him. She was really trying to be civil with him, but she just wasn't to that point yet.

"Please take care of her Damon. And if anything happens-"

"I'll call you. You don't need to worry. I've got her."

Elena nodded not trusting her voice as she bent down and hugged her daughter.

"I love you baby and I hope you have a fun day."

"I love you too mommy."

Elena smiled and got up waving goodbye to Clarissa and Damon. This was going to be a very hard day for her.

Elena sighed as she looked over the case files again. Sometimes it sucked being an intern at a law firm, but she did it to support her daughter, so she could have more in life. She was working for one of the top divorce lawyers in the state and she had to admit that some of the cases were depressing, especially since it reminded her of her and Damon's nasty custody case when Clarissa was born, but she didn't have time to think of that right now. She had to focus at the task at hand.

There was a young couple in front of her. Caroline Forbes and Klaus Mikaeson were going through a nasty divorce and their son was the case at hand here. Caroline wanted him and so did Klaus, but none of them were willing to trust the other. Elena had to get out of here the wounds she was suffering was much to real to handle. That's when it happened. Everything had been normal just a second ago and than it changed in the blink of an eye.

"Hello, Elena it's Damon." he said voice panicked.

"Damon, what's wrong?"

"Is-Is Clarissa with you? I came to pick her up and they said she's-"

"Damon, no she's not with me, what happened?"

"Elena, She's- Our daughter is missing. She's not here. She's not with me and she's not with you, She's gone-"

Elena dropped the phone. She felt like she couldn't breathe. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

Neverland

Chapter 4

Elena felt as if her life had put in slow motion as she threw her purse in her car and drove to the police station to meet Damon and find out what the hell was going on. She ran up the stairs of the station as she threw the doors open her hair floating behind her in a wild mess. She didn't care though. She needed to see what happened.

As soon as she stepped into the station, she saw Damon over on the other side and ran to him stopping just short of knocking him over. She wished she could. She had trusted him to take care of their daughter and he had failed. Where was her daughter? How come she wasn't safe and sound with her father like Elena had wanted? Hadn't she been through enough?

She meet Damon's gaze as his blue eyes pierced her gaze. Those were the eyes she loved. The eyes that their precious daughter had inherited. The eyes that she may never see again. She shook her head at Damon as she ran over to an officer. Maybe Damon hadn't been able to get anything done, but she was sure she would be able to get Clarissa on everyone's priority list.

"Ugh. hi. Hello. My-My name is Elena Gilbert I'm the mother of Clarissa Salvatore and I was wondering if you had any word on her yet."

"No ma'am I'm sorry. We've put out an amber alert, but for right now we don't have much to go on."

She looked at Damon with narrowed eyes than back to the cop. She knew that he may have given the cops details but she knew things that Damon didn't. Things that you would only know by actually spending time with her.

"Can I please talk to the head detective on this case?"

The police officer nodded looking concerned and heartbroken for her as he left to go collect Sheriff Forbes. In that time Damon made his way over to her and even had the nerve to touch her. How dare he? He couldn't do that especially whenever their daughter was her top priority at the moment. She shoved his hand off and slapped him across the face making sure it stung. When she pulled her hand away his hand went to it and rubbed it as if she couldn't have done a more terrible thing, but before he could say anything the sheriff showed up as Elena breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mrs. Salvatore it's good to see you. If you don;t mind I would like to ask you a few questions about your daughter just to see if they match up with your husbands answers."

"It's Ms. Gilbert actually and he's just the guy who got me pregnant we're not together or anything, but I'll answer any question you have about her. Anything at all."

"Okay. I have a lot of questions so if you could follow me to my office that would be appreciated."

Elena nodded as she left Damon to go deal with what was really important.

Elena looked around the Sheriff's office as she picked up the picture of her and Caroline and smiled. Caroline had been so happy back then to what she was now. Elena just hoped that everything would be worked out between her.

When the Liz came back, she handed Elena a warm cup of coffee for her nerves and sat down at her desk flipping to a case file she had to fill out and clicked her pen waiting for Elena to answer her questions.

"Okay Elena, I know this may be hard for you but I need to ask you a few questions about your daughter and I need you to answer to the best of your abilities. What;s your daughter's full name?"

"It's Clarissa Lilian Salvatore."

"How tall is your daughter?"

"She's three feet and seven inches tall according to the doctors."

"How old is she?"

"She's two. She'll be three in six months."

"What is your child's hair color?"

"She has brownish black hair. And it's also as thick as mine and her dad's and it curls like her dad's does even though he'll never admit that it sometimes curls because he's embarrassed by it."

Elena had no idea why she was talking about Damon, but their daughter had inherited a lot of his characteristics and that was something she couldn't ignore. No matter how much she wanted to.

"Eye color?"

"She has Damon's blue eyes, but if the light shines in them the right way they can turn greenish. And they're also almond shaped like mine."

"Weight?"

"She's average sized for a child her age."

"What was the last thing she was wearing?"

"Why? Why do you need to know that?"

"Most times they find victims of kidnapping in the outfit they had on when they were missing. It's common procedure for us to ask this?"

Elena nodded.

"She had on a red shirt with blue jeans and a red bow that her dad got for her a while ago. She loves that bow. She can't go a day without it."

More question flooded over her as Elena grew weary and impatient. Why hadn't they found her yet? Why couldn't her daughter just be in her arms already and not out there in the cold harsh world without either of her parents beside her.

When it was over, Elena exited the Sheriff's office as she promised to do everything she could to find her. Elena took that promise with a grain of salt as she made her way out into the lobby and was shocked when she saw Damon sitting there with his head lolling back eyes closed. He looked so peaceful when he slept and she couldn't believe that he had stayed. It reminded her of the very few times he had actually cared.

She gently shook him as his eyes opened. She swore she could get lost in those beautiful blue yes if the time and place had been better. This was the most time they had spent together since Clarissa had been born and she had to admit she missed him a little bit.

"Sorry. I-I must have fell asleep. Any news?" he said sitting up in the chair that looked rather uncomfortable.

"No. Not yet."

"I am so sorry Elena. I-I truly am. If anything happens to our little girl I-I don't know what I'll do. If I was a better father maybe you would have trusted me to take care of her myself and this wouldn't have happened. If I was a better father we would still be together with our daughter right now and be doing normal happy stuff. I wouldn't be sitting here in a police station waiting for news. We would be home tucking our daughter into bed while I read her a bedtime story and told her goodnight and we would both be happy. She would be safe. She wouldn't be out there with God knows who and scared out of her mind. I-I just want her back so much. I wouldn't care if I never got to see her after this as long as she's returned safely back to you and she could live a normal life. I-I just want her to be here and safe. And now I'm rambling and I don't know how to turn this off and I know you're going through it worse because I haven't been there for both of you and I-I wish I had."

Elena sat down next to him and took his hand into hers feeling the softness of it at that moment.

"I'm just as much to blame for this as you are. I could have pushed you to spend more time with her or I could have just trusted you more. You're a great dad and our daughter adores you. Far more than she ever does me."

"Hey. She loves you just as much if not more don't ever think she doesn't"

Elena squeezed his hand as he stroked his eyes with his other one. She could tell he was tired but trying hard to fight sleep not wanting to miss anything on Clarissa and her whereabouts.

"You should really get some sleep." she suggested noticing that he looked like more of an adult than she had ever seen before.

"No, I-I can't go back to my apartment and pretend everything is fine and dandy. Clarissa is my life and I can't sleep until I get her back."

"Than come home with me."

Damon's face turned sharply to hers catching her by surprise as a gasp escaped her lips. They were so close and yet they couldn't be further away from each other.

"Are you-Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Well I probably won't be able to sleep either and we could catch up while we wait for news on our daughter. Hey maybe they'll even find her tonight and we can both put her to bed like you imagined. We just have to hope."

"Well it won;'t be exactly how I imagined but it'll be close. Thank you Elena."

"No problem."

Elena placed her keys on her side table as she threw her jacket on the coat hanger with Damon following close behind her. He shut the door tightly as he looked around Elena's small quint home that she had paid for all by herself. She loved every bit of it and was glad that their were only happy memories here well at least until now.

Damon sat on the beige couch in the living room as Elena went to her kitchen to make coffee for the both of them. For the first time that day she allowed the teas to slip and fall as the coffee was brewing. She didn;t know who had kidnapped her daughter but she knew that whoever it was was going to pay for taking her little girl.

When the coffee was done Elena wiped her eyes and poured it in the two small plain white cups carrying it over to where Damon was now sitting with a picture of the three of them. The only one she had. The day their daughter was born. Elena handed him the coffee as he sat it down on the end table beside him.

"Thank you." he said still looking at the picture.

"Do you remember that day?" she asked examining it closely

"Are you kidding me? I remember it as if it were just yesterday."

She smiled as she titled her head back and listened to the story that had went through her head a thousand times.

The day his daughter was born was a day that Damon Salvatore would never forget. As he looked into a clear blue lake that he hoped he would take someone to one day his cellphone rang in his pocket and Elena's name flashed over the screen as clear as day. His eyebrows fused in confusion as he wondered why she would be calling.

"Hello?" he asked waiting for her voice to come through the speakers.

"Damon." Elena was panting hard as if she were in a lot of pain. "Damon I-I need you." she said with a groan.

"Why? Wh-What's wrong?"

"Sh-She's coming Damon. Our baby is coming and I-I really need you here."

"Elena-"

"Damon! I- I know you hate me okay. I-OH GAH THIS HURTS-I know that this wasn't your plan and you don't want us, but I-I really don't want you to go a day of your life not meeting our daughter that you helped create. I-I know you think she was a huge mistake, but I-I still want her Damon and I know there's a small part of you that wants her too. So if you don't do this for me than please do this for the one thing in the universe that's ours."

Something deep settled in Damon's heart as he exhaled looking at the clear blue water. He knew that Elena was right. He needed to at least be there for this or else he would regret this. Just like he would regret so many moments he didn't spend with her...

"I'll be right there." he said as Elena muttered out the hospital she was in and he made his way to it.

When Damon made it to the hospital he was escorted to the labor and delivery ward as he was led to Elena's room her screams of pain echoing through the door.

A doctor stood beside her as Damon took her hand looking into his eyes and squeezing his hand hard as another contraction hit her.

"That was great Elena. You're doing great."

Elena looked at Damon and smiled through her tears.

"They're coming faster now. My contractions. I'm glad you made it before you-AWWWW."

"What's happening doctor?" he said frantically.

"She's crowning. Elena I need you to give me a big push. On my go okay. Now push!"

Damon's hand felt as if it was being suffocated as Elena pushed and pushed until he heard a sharp cry ring out. Elena breathed a sigh of relief as tears rushed down her face while their daughter was getting cleaned up.

After their daughter was all taken care of the doctor wrapped her up in a blanket and handed her over to her mother as Damon watched the tiny little thing squirm in Elena's arms. Elena looked down and her smile turned brighter as she stroked the baby's cheek.

"She's perfect."

Damon felt as if he should have got out of there right there and then, but there was something or rather someone keeping him there. H couldn't just ,leave without at least meeting her once. His flesh and blood. His daughter. He leaned in towards Elena careful not to get too close in case she wanted to deck him like she had been promising to for the past thirty minutes. Elena looked at him with those brown eyes colliding with his. Not in hate but in nothing but love. Not for him per se but for what he have given her. A person that she could call her own.

"Do you-Do you want to hold her?" she said shyly.

Damon looked at his daughter cautiously nestled comfortably in her mother's arms afraid that if he touched her he would hurt her somehow and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to tell Elena no that it would be too hard for him but as he saw the little girl squirming in her arms crying out softly for his affection he knew he couldn't refuse.

Damon nodded and ever so gently she placed the little girl in Damon's arms. The baby had been squirming in Elena's arms but as soon as she was in Damon''s she stopped as if she found a certain peace there Elena gave him a nod of encouragement as he looked down at the baby and it was as if the world stopped when she had entered it.

He couldn't deny that the baby in his arms was his. Every part of her screamed it as Damon looked at her more closely. She had hair that was a mix of his and Elena's but she had inherited more of his dark color than her lighter ones. Her lips were also his, but the ears were defiantly Elena's. And when he stared into her eyes he swore it took his breath away as he noticed Elena's almond shaped eyes but when she peaked at him trying to open them he noticed that they were blue. He had read that most babies eyes were either blue or gray to start with but deep down he knew that this little girl would have his. She was every part of him as she was Elena's. Their baby. A baby they made together. This perfect little girl in his arms had no name yet and he already felt as if he would move bridges for her. She was perfect and she was his world/ He knew at that moment he would do anything to protect her even if it meant living without her for a while so he could provide for her. That was all he wanted and that was something he would never tell Elena. No matter what occurred.

Elena's eyes opened sending her out of Damon's memories and back into the present where he had stopped telling them.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you felt that way?"

"It always felt like a moment between just me and her. I wanted to keep it close to me. I really do love her Elena."

"I know you do. I love that you love her." she said smiling through her tears.

Damon gave Elena a hug making her feel as if he let her go that she would fall apart without him.

"Damon, Will you stay with me tonight?"

"I would do anything for you."

She nodded as she let the tears go finally letting ever yhting in her out in the open


End file.
